The Wolfforth Police Department has a number of used military-style vehicles in its collection, but officials say the price was right. The city paid nothing for actual trucks.

The police picked up a Humvee about a year ago through Section 1033 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997, which allows the U.S. Department of Defense to transfer excess military equipment to state and local law enforcement agencies.

About a month ago, the Wolfforth police gained two dump trucks, which they had to drive to northern New Mexico to retrieve.

Later in May, city workers drove to Fort Riley, Kan., to pick up a mobile command unit that sits on a 5-ton truck chassis. Like some campers, it has slideouts on the sides that allow it to triple in width once on-site, creating enough office space for 10 to 12 people.

“It’s a mobile office. That’s what the military used it for, of course,” Police Chief Rick Scott said.

The city acquired these vehicles through the Internet, with Officer Sean Cole looking through Section 1033 sites to find things the city could use. The price was right; the city only had to pay to go and pick up the equipment.

City Manager Darrell Newsom estimated the city spent less than $1,000 for gas, lodging and meals on the trip to Kansas.

But he said Cole had looked to see if there was anything else the city could use from that area, and he found about $1,000 worth of tools that the city picked up at the same time as the mobile command unit.

The mobile command unit had just 2,400 miles on it because it has been completely refurbished, Newsom said. The unit still has a price tag on the door fixing its value at $111,395.

The command unit has a heater, but no air conditioner, and Newsom said the police department is seeking an air conditioning unit for the vehicle through the Section 1033 program.

Newsom said in the event of a storm such as the tornadoes that hit Moore, Okla., the city could use the mobile command unit. But he said it could also be used for coordination of events like the Harvest Festival.

Referring to emergencies like tornadoes or wildfires, Scott said he hopes the city will actually never have to use the mobile command unit.

“It’d sure be nice to have that, should you need it,” Scott said.

Newsom said because Wolfforth participates in the South Plains Association of Governments, the mobile command unit would be available to other communities in the area in the event of an emergency.

The Humvee, Newsom said, was used to rescue stranded motorists following torrential rains in Lubbock. This spring, it was used to rescue motorists during a snow storm in Wolfforth.

“It’s one of those vehicles that will go anywhere and over anything,” Scott said. “We’ve had no mechanical issues with it so far.”

The city’s newly-acquired dump trucks are not in the same condition.

“Now, the dump trucks that we got, they have been sitting a lot longer,” Newsom said. One was valued at $70,000, while the other was valued at $80,000.

The city manager said the dump trucks will need maintenance and new batteries, and he said it would probably take $1,000 each to get them back up and running properly.

“In a worst-case scenario, we could get one running and use the other for parts,” Newsom said.

Because code enforcement is under the Wolfforth Police, Newsom said he believes the dump trucks could be used to clean up problem areas in Wolfforth.

But the city’s acquisition of the new vehicles has not passed without criticism.

Scott Mann, who blogs on Facebook as Sandstorm Scholar, wrote an entry late in May that was critical of the city’s acquisition of a mobile command unit.

Reached by phone on Monday, Mann said he believes the dump trucks and Humvee might be good acquisitions.

“My concerns would be the militarization of the police department,” Mann said. He said he is also concerned that the city is purchasing things that will be expensive to maintain.

“We don’t need one (a mobile command unit), and it will cost us money to put radio equipment in there,” Mann said. “We don’t have a reason to use it in Wolfforth.”

Mann reiterated his position the city needs to be more concerned about its infrastructure issues, such as water and sewer. He added that the Lubbock Police and the Lubbock Sheriff’s Department both have mobile command units if the city has an emergency requiring one.

Scott said the department did not acquire the vehicles with the thought they would spend a lot of money maintaining them.

The police chief said with the exception of the Humvee, the city can sell or give away the acquisitions it has made after one year. The Humvee is still officially the property of the U.S. government, Scott said, and it would have to be returned if the city decided it wasn’t needed or too expensive to maintain.

Newsom said it is also difficult to see how the purchases are militarization of the police force.

“These vehicles are not things we would use as an offensive nature,” Scott said.